What's this? A blog post? Yup - sorry it's been such a long time (just over a month). I work from home and getting used to my wife and a new baby being around all day while I try to work has been somewhat harder than I perhaps naively imagined! I've also had a visit from my dad who lives in the States and various other things here, there, and all over the place. You know what it's like! So to ease myself back in, here are a few Rainbow Orchid bits and pieces.

I've updated the shop to include the new badge set. At 38mm (1.5 inches) these are larger than the old set (25mm - sold out) and there are five designs in all. I also had some mugs made, but I'm afraid these are not for sale. I created them primarily as presents for my agent, editor and designer, but I did get a couple spare for a competition at some time in the future - so look out for that.

I believe De Regenboog Orchidee (deel twee) is out this month (I've yet to see it myself) and Silvester Strips are having a special promotion where you can buy volume 2 along with Olivier Marin's beautifully drawn De Godinnen van de Weg (The Goddess of the Road) for just €29.95.

Last week the Christchurch Kids Blog featured three posts on The Rainbow Orchid as part of their Reading Crusade. In part one I answer the question 'what are graphic novels?' and in parts two and three I explain the process of how I make my own comic from script to drawing and lettering.

To end off, something nice! On Monday I will be posting the first strip of a four-page preview of The Rainbow Orchid volume 3. A new strip will be going up three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for five weeks. There will be more preview later in the year and in a few months time a brand new Julius Chancer story will be made available on the web as well. But for now - make sure you come back on Monday!